248 Journal of Travel and Natural History 



of fruit or berries, whilst the nearly allied genus of koels 

 (Eudynamys) are eminently berry-devourers. It may not be gene- 

 rally known that sundry ground-pigeons feed eagerly on earth- 

 worms, as we have witnessed in the Zoological Gardens ; and it 

 would hardly be expected that the piscivorous mergansers (Mergus 

 castor and M. serrator) would take to scrambling eagerly for 

 fragments of bread thrown to them, a sight that may be ordinarily 

 witnessed of those at present in the Regent's Park collection. All of 

 these are instructive facts which should habitually be borne in 

 mind when cogitating on the differences of the " Abba Gumba" 

 from the other hornbills. 



Another remarkable snake-devourer, also of a peculiar African 

 type, exists in the famous secretary-bird (Serpentarius reptilivorus), 

 which the acclimatizers of Australia should assuredly endeavour 

 their utmost to introduce, especially as it does not attack poultry. 

 Mr Layard describes it as 



" Widely distributed throughout the colony. When a pair estabhsh them- 

 selves in any locality they speedily drive out all others of the same kind, and 

 will breed in the same nest for a long period. The nest is a large structure, 

 added to yearly, placed sometimes in a low bush, sometimes in a thick thorny 

 mimosa. I am told they never lay more than two eggs, which are of a dirty 

 dull white, profusely dotted with light brownish-red blotches at the obtuse end, 

 and sparsely over the whole shell. The young utter a guttural, rattling cry, 

 precisely resembling the call of the Stanley crane. They are a long while ere 

 they can walk, as their legs seem unable to support the weight of their bodies, 

 and snap with the least exertion. One which I was rearing for the Acclimatiza- 

 tion Society of Melbourne and Sydney trod in a small wooden bowl sunk in the 

 ground, and instantly fell, breaking his leg and wing. I spliced them both, 

 but he died in ten days. Since the above was written I have lost several from 

 similar causes. I have known them snap a legif suddenly startled into a quick 

 run. All who have tried to rear these birds notice this brittleness in their 

 bones. I am informed that the texture of the nest is so loose that the legs of 

 the young hang through the interstices until they acquire sufficient strength to 

 be bent under them." 



Several secretary-birds have been brought to London within the 

 last year or two, but it is a long time since one has been exhibited 

 in the Zoological Gardens.* We have seen one kept together with 



* It is suggested in the "Ibis" for April 186S, p. 242, tliat the extreme 

 brittleness of the bones arises in birds reared in confinement, from the fact that 

 they are deprived of the lime derived from the bones of the small mammals 

 and reptiles devoured by them in their wild state and brought by their parents. 

 Sprinkling their food, usually raw meat, with chalk, as a substitute, is further 

 suggested, and this, remarks Mr Layard, is not a bad idea for those wlio rear 

 falcons. 



